Expression of the serine protease inhibitor serpinA3 in human colorectal adenocarcinomas.

Proteases facilitate a number of steps in cancer progression. The serine protease inhibitors (serpins) are a protein superfamily with inhibitory activity against proteases. One of these proteases, serpinA3, appears to have a multifaceted role and is associated with inflammatory reactions, Alzheimer's disease, malignant melanoma and gastric cancer. To gain insight into the potential effect of serpinA3 on colorectal cancer (CRC) we determined whether serpinA3 is altered in colorectal tissue or plasma in CRC patients. Collectively, by using ELISA we noted a significantly lower serpinA3 level in cancer tissue compared to paired normal tissue. Moreover, the tumour serpinA3 level tended to be higher in disseminated disease as compared to localised disease. No significant difference in the plasma levels of serpinA3 was noted in the patients when compared to the controls. However, plasma serpinA3 and C-reactive protein (marker of inflammation) in the CRC patients and controls were significantly positively correlated. To confirm and detect localization of serpinA3 expression, immunohistochemistry was performed. Immunohistochemistry showed heterogeneous immunoreactivity in epithelial cells in the cancer and normal tissue and extracellular staining within bands of stroma as well as in some stromal cells. A Taq Man system was used to investigate a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs4934) in the serpinA3 signal sequence gene with supposed effect on serpinA3 secretion and expression. No significant difference was observed between CRC and control subjects regarding genotype and allelic distributions, nor were associations noted between clinical characteristics and serpinA3 levels. In conclusion, an altered serpinA3 concentration in CRC tissue may be a potential biomarker in CRC progression. SerpinA3 concentrations in plasma appear to be correlated with systemic inflammation, but do not appear to be specific to CRC patients. Further studies are warranted to improve our understanding of the role of serpinA3 in CRC.